Page 37 of Preacher

He chuckled, and we turned our attention back to the field. It was the last inning, and the pitcher was on fire. He was throwing strike after strike, and when he threw the last player out, the team erupted in cheers.

He glanced over to me with an excited look on his face and asked, “Do you mind?”

There was no way I was going to keep him from those boys, so I quickly nodded and said, “Go! I’ll wait right here.”

He held my gaze for a moment, then jogged out onto the field. Several of the boys ran up to him, each giving him a high five or a fist bump. He spoke to each of them, and they listened to every word.

I found the whole scene both surprising and heartwarming.

As I stood there watching him with his boys, it hit me. I liked him. I really, really liked him, and I had no idea what I was going to do about it.

Once he’d finished up with them, we got back on the bike, and he drove me home. He walked me up to the barn entrance, and we lingered there for a moment. The night air was cool against my skin, but I barely noticed it. Not with him standing this close and looking at me the way he was.

I wasn’t ready for this.

I knew that.

I could feel it in my bones. I should’ve said something. I should’ve done something to break the spell before it swallowed me whole.

But I didn’t.

Instead, I stared into those beautiful dark eyes as he lifted his hand and gently brushed his fingers along my jaw. A move that seemed much too gentle for a man like him. He inched closer, and my breath caught. My entire body tingled with anticipation.

And then it happened.

He kissed me.

It wasn’t rushed. It wasn’t demanding. It was slow and deliberate, like he was giving me time to pull away if I wanted to. But I didn’t pull away. Instead, I leaned into him, kissing him back.

And just like that, the world around us faded into the night. It was just him and me. My pulse roared in my ears as his lips moved against mine. Coaxing. Unraveling. His other hand slid to my waist. He was firm but careful, holding me there like he wasn’t going to let me go.

Heat stirred in the pit of my stomach. It was a feeling I barely recognized. It was one I’d buried a long time ago, and now, it was waking up all at once.

I wanted this.

I wanted him.

But then reality crashed through the haze.

I placed the palms of my hands on his chest and gave him a slight push, breaking the embrace. “I can’t.”

“Can’t what?”

“This,” I muttered, shaking my head. “I don’t know how to do this.”

Hudson didn’t move. He didn’t push. He just stood there staring at me with an unreadable expression. “Tabitha…”

“I mean it.” I tried to swallow the lump in my throat, but it didn’t budge. “I don’t know how to be with someone. I mean, reallybe with them. Not like this.”

The words tasted bitter as I said them, but that didn’t make them any less true. Dimitri was a man who took. He took, and he took. And he had no remorse when he took everything from me. He stole the last years of my childhood, my free will, my virginity, and my voice.

He left me with nothing, and I had learned to survive it.

But this wasn’t about survival. This was something else, and I had no idea how to handle it. Hudson’s jaw tensed, but after a long moment, he gave a slow nod.

He didn’t try to push back.

He didn’t try to convince me that I was wrong.

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